TV Gold

As January 2006 heralds the welcome UK release of the first three 'classic series' William Hartnell stories in a Region 2 DVD box set entitled 'The Beginning',one of its discs started me thinking. Although naturally overshadowed by the shows debut story and of course the epic seven part ?series defining? first appearance of 'The Daleks' this title is notable for being the first appearance on DVD for one of those strangest of beasts, the 'classic series' two-parter. Now this rare creature would nowadays equate to one single tale for messrs Eccleston and Tennant here in the twenty-first century. However such a slimed down episodic adventure for the Doctor and his companions was a decidedly rare occurrence, something that, officially only occurred six times between the foggy Totters Lane's of 1963 and Perivale's rolling common vista of 1989. By officially I am not, of course including what could possibly be included like the final two parts of the 1986 'Trial of a Time Lord' epic, episodes nine and ten of 1969's 'The War Games', the opening pair of episodes of 1976's 'The Seeds of Doom' or even, and very tenuously, 1981's spin off 'K9 and Company'. So let's now take a stroll through the 'classic series' run and ponder the relative merits of each of these unique slimmed down stories.

Now William Hartnell first opened up this collection very early on in the series with the third ever story, 'The Edge of Destruction', centring entirely on the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara's character interactions and set within the many labyrinthine confines of the TARDIS. As we now all have the ability to check this story out in all its digitally restored VidFire glory on DVD (backed up by an exhaustive collection of detailed extras) there is little I can say about this minimal cast/basic scenery outing that is not already covered, at length, on the disc.

Flick forward a year and in the aftermath of the Doctor's granddaughter, Susan Foreman being left on the devastated Earth of 2150 AD at the end of 'The Dalek Invasion of Earth' viewers gained a most welcome gentle start to 1965 with the relatively enjoyable 'The Rescue'. The main objective of this short piece penned by David Whitaker was of course to introduce new companion Vicki (played by the elfin figure of Maureen O'Brien (who coincidentally features in an interview in the current issue (Number 366) of Doctor Who Magazine!), one of two survivors the Doctor, Ian and Barbara encounter in an Earth spaceship which had crashed on the surface of the planet Dido in the year 2493. A fairly lightweight tale whose main surprise is that of Vicki's fellow survivor Bennett (Ray Barrett) possessing the alternate spiky headed personality of Koquillion, under which we are led to believe, killed not just the entire crew, but all of the Didonians. Not an entirely memorable entry in the Hartnell era however it made a welcome addition to the 1994 double VHS video release sitting alongside the next delightfully humourous following 'The Romans' story.

Both Patrick Troughton and Jon Pertwee's tenures as the travelling Time Lord were bereft of the 'two-parter' but then in Tom Baker's first year the next of these 'short plot beasts' cropped up. Despite an overall reduced episode count, the twelfth season has to be rated as one of the strongest collection of stories that the series served up. The 'UNIT faces a Frankenstein's monster' parody in 'Robot' opens the run strongly in effectively introducing the new incarnation of the series central character by holding onto familiar elements of the Pertwee family set up during this 'period of change'. A classic space opera 'The Ark In Space' followed to justifiably strong ratings success. With Daleks (in the immensely popular and probably most variably format released 'Genesis of the Daleks' (soon to add DVD to its tally)) and Cybermen (in the underrated 'Revenge of the Cybermen' season finale) the season just required one final element to this season's story run. Sitting between these two pairs of popular Baker adventures, the next entry in the series two-parters, entitled 'The Sontaran Experiment' stands as a far more satisfying and enjoyable tale than the previous possibly perceived Hartnell 'season padding' outings. Fresh from their introduction in the previous years enchantingly entertaining opening story, 'The Time Warrior', Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen and Ian Marter encounter another member of the powerful, brutish, militaristic species that Jon Pertwee encountered back in 'merry old England'. However this time around our trio are surprised to discover Space Major Styre (experimenting on a handful of clearly fatigued astronauts on a deserted Earth of the far future. Not only does the story stand up particularly well on repeated viewings it benefits greatly from effective use of location footage in the sparse desolate surroundings of the Dartmoor countryside. Again its inclusion alongside another story, that of 'Genesis of the Daleks', formed another strong VHS double tape release back in 1990, made all the better for having two such memorable series adversaries in one product.

It was another seven years and the arrival of Peter Davison before, surprisingly, the two-parter was again sighted, nestling in amongst the fifth Doctor's first season. Glancing at the fifth story of the 1982 run finds writer Eric Saward offering up 'Black Orchid', the quirky, purely historical story bringing the TARDIS crew to Cranleigh Halt in the summer of 1925. Admittedly an entertaining 'piece of televisual fluff' offering us the sight of Peter Davison playing cricket, Tegan (Janet Fielding) effectively dancing the Charlston, Nyssa (Sarah Sutton) meeting her identical twin and Adric (Matthew Waterhouse) basically stuffing himself silly it could hardly by any means be construed in any fashion as a quality series entry. Now maybe I might be considered a bit harsh to offer up this opinion but when you consider this rather atypical tale (the first such since Patrick Troughton's 'The Highlanders' way back in 1966) sits alongside other memorable season nineteen entries like the Cyber tale 'Earthshock', surreal Mara imbued 'Kinda' and Terileptil period terror in 'The Visitation' you can see why 'Black Orchid' does have a rather forgettable cache to it. Having said that, once again it was a favourable inclusion on a two-tape VHS release sitting alongside the vastly superior 'The Visitation'.

Nestling at the end of the following season and slotting in just before the twentieth anniversary 'The Five Doctors' celebratory special comes the penultimate tale in this sextuplet of ?classic series mini stories?. 'The Kings Demons' is again a rather forgotten adventure however scratch the historical setting (the date on this one is 4th March 1215) which is coupled with some pleasant medieval dialogue and you'll find some highly enjoyable aspects on offer from this Terence Dudley penned tale. Uppermost of note we have another excellent performance from the late Anthony Ainley as the scheming, devious Master, here masquerading as French accented King's Champion Sir Gilles Estram here plotting to turn the local Barons against the King, thereby preventing the signing of the Magna Carta (as the Doctor points out 'small-time villainy by his standards'). There is an exciting sword fight in the castles great hall between the two rival time lords bringing back memories of their previous medieval weapon tussle during the classic Pertwee 1972 tale 'The Sea Devils', albeit this time the combatants have an audience to witness their fighting prowess. King John himself is played with a slightly slurred, mischievous and regal manor by actor Gerald Flood whom also provided the voice for Kamelion. Now admittedly the introduction of this particular shape-changing android as a travelling companion ultimately proved a major logistical blunder leading to its eventual and most welcome destruction at the end of the 'Planet of Fire' story. However here in 'The Kings Demons' the visual effects sequence where he changes form whilst the Doctor and the Master pit their mental wits against each other is the technological highlight of the story. Unfortunately this particular two-parter, although embellished with a suitably splendid video tape cover had a much more low key and temporary release in the autumn of 1995, alongside the technologically enhanced version of 'The Five Doctors' in a limited two tape VHS box set title.

The following year finds the Doctor taking Tegan to the picturesque village of Little Hodcombe so that she can visit her grandfather Andrew Verney (brought to life with a distinct element of believability by Frederick Hall) in the highly distinctive, engaging and entertaining Eric Pringle story 'The Awakening'. Leading the guest cast you have Denis Lill making a return to the series (last seen in 1977's 'Image of Fendahl') playing, with a great degree of maniacal zeal, passion and energy, the elaborately dressed principal advocate of the village's English Civil War reconstruction, Sir George Hutchinson. Albeit overshadowed by their superiors on-screen presence it is worth noting Glyn Houston (as Colonel Wolsey) and Jack Galloway (as Joseph Willow) participation in proceedings. Due to the very nature of the threat that they face (an evil alien entity (known as the Malus) who is using psychic projections to feed on the villagers' fears) we have the unexpected appearance, through a church wall connected with 1643, of common urchin Will Chandler. Actor Keith Jayne renders a believable, charming performance of the wide-eyed, spirited and, despite what he encounters in 1984, brave youngster whom could have been an excellent travelling companion had the opportunity for him to join the TARDIS crew been taken. However the most significant acting aspect is the 'simply astonishing' performance of former Liver Bird comedy actress Polly James who rises splendidly to the challenge of a more dramatic role by convincingly portraying concerned schoolteacher Jane Hampden. 'The Awakening' makes good use of its summer location filming with memorable scenes (e.g. Will Chandler running through the long grass, the Doctor's pursuit of a disfigured figure and the village green where the 'queen of the May' was to be burnt) effectively rendered. The incidental music throughout is highly distinctive, evocative and memorable and strongly embellishes the evil threat that the Malus presents not just from its principal location in the church (effectively realised in the stories concluding sequence) but throughout the entire village and its inhabitants. Backed up with a very strong 'new-style' designed dual story cover 'The Awakening' made its VHS video tape release during 1994, alongside 'Frontios' to generally favourable reviews.

In the final analysis these six stories a rather a mixed bag when compared alongside each other. Undoubtedly 'The Edge of Destruction', as has already been stated, was a season filler with other productions during that first run with other stories having greater budgetary demands so it is all credit to the series four leads to effectively carry this two-parter themselves. 'The Rescue' has a fairly unambitious remit of introducing a new companion amidst a crashed spaceship mystery tale and can be viewed as a tentative reformatting launch for the series with the first real change to the central character line-up. Shot entirely on location coupled with an entertaining engaging script the rapid return of the previous years Sontaran adversary in 'The Sontaran Experiment' successfully filled its two episodes admirably and was a welcome and important addition to a very strong twelfth season line-up. I guess you have to commend the brave step of slotting in a purely historical tale like 'Black Orchid' into such a science fiction heavy adventure run like the nineteenth season. In such company as Cybermen, Mara and Terileptils this light murder/mystery tale undoubtedly suffers in comparison. Personally I feel that 'The Kings Demons' is a neglected gem nestling at the end of the twentieth anniversary season and effectively blends the medieval period setting with high technology aspects like that of Kamelion?s shape-changing ability. Undoubtedly the strongest and most effective ?classic series? use of the two-part story was 1984's 'The Awakening' with an exciting, engaging script, convincing emotive cast performances and memorable, distinctive and appropriately crafted incidental music.

Undoubtedly these 'two-parters' do pose quite a problem when considering the amount of space remaining on a potential DVD disc. At present, due to its proximity to 'An Unearthly Child', 'The Daleks', only 'The Edge of Destruction' has gained a release because of the resulting 'beginning of Doctor Who series' related extras that could join it. I think it highly unlikely that either 'The Rescue' or 'Black Orchid' could possibly yield any significant extras in addition to their respective stories as both are, on balance fairly average in their both the content and plot objectives. A feature on the genesis and development (such as it is) of the Sontaran race could be a possible worthy endeavour as an extra on a 'The Sontaran Experiment' DVD title although it would more likely be lined up alongside their first appearance in 'The Time Warrior'. Having said that this two-parter is definitely a much stronger tale than either of the Hartnell stories or 'Black Orchid'. A historical connection item and possibly a feature on Anthony Ainley might be worthy extras for 'The Kings Demons' as would maybe something on the construction, assembly and use of Kamelion. However, surely the greatest potential for extras must go to 'The Awakening', with 'Now and Then' feature, set design and interviews just a few things that could help to embellish possibly the finest of the 'classic series' two-parters. Naturally talk about future potential DVD releases for these two-parters is entirely hypothetical, as quite rightly longer stories are taking greater prominence in the BBC's schedules so as to attract a wider cross-section of the buying public. Having said that its been fun going 'on safari' journeying through the 'classic series' landscape, searching out these rare condensed story outings.

So anyway there you go - the classic series 'two-parter', a rare beast, occasionally seen over the years, sometimes rather mundane, sometimes enjoyable, occasionally outstanding but certainly an interesting experiment that shouldn't be overlooked in its valued contribution they make to the history of varied Doctor Who storytelling.
B)

As confirmed in this months 'Doctor Who Magazine (Issue 371) October 2006 will see the DVD release of Season Twelve's two-parter 'The Sontaran Experiment', the first of what we are told, will be occasional, slimmed down (in both content and price) releases supplimenting the usual extras packed releases.

I guess that means commentary (audio and text) and photo gallery and we'll be lucky if there is anything else. Still I'm not grumbling, it's great to see one of these 'rare beasts' escaping the archives onto the retail streets!

Now available for pre-order, the first of the 'limited extras' releases

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/1126146/-/Product.html?searchstring=Doctor+Who+Sontaran+Experiment

no word on exactly what we will be getting in addition to this two-parter. My thoughts are that we should at least get a 'photo gallery' and text and audio commentary.
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